How to keep your pipeline contacts nurtured

“Call us back in about six months’ time…”

How often have you appraised Mr & Ms Vendor’s property and they’ve told you they’re not quite ready to list just yet … you have every intention of keeping in touch (after all you had such great rapport) … life gets in the way … and then you see a signboard on their front lawn…?

You took them at their word – that you were the one because they just:

Wanted to do some minor redecorating before they listed

Wanted to list when the garden was looking its best…

They’re waiting for Jupiter to align with Mars…

Whatever their reason for not listing at the time of your appraisal meeting, the end result means you didn’t walk away with a signed exclusive contract in your hands when you left the appointment.

They say something along the lines of :

call us back in six months or so,we’ll be ready then and we’re definitely going to list with you.

And then they go and list with someone else!

Sales Pipeline Nurturing

When you think about how hard you’ve had to work to get your foot in the door to appraise their property in the first place why would you want to undo all of that hard work by not ‘loving’ them for as long as it takes because they’re not working to your timetable…?

Failing to nurture and look after your prospects – your Already-Appraised-Property-Owners – results in you having to work much harder in your business than you need to.

This means that instead of spending time with your family and loved ones, doing what lights you up on the inside, you’re out hustling, chasing your tail, almost desperate for listings.

How to work smarter in your business by managing your sales pipelines

To start with you need to have a sales pipeline so you can measure the right numbers.

What do you measure?

I’ve talked before about where having a real estate business can feel like you’re constantly working in a boom or bust world….

Some months you’re on a high. You’ve got listings and buyers. Everything is ticking along nicely, thank you very much.

And then about three months’ later it’s hard work. You’ve got no listings and you’ve got no idea where your next listing is coming from. Running your business feels like hard work.

Add them to your pipeline

At the same time as adding them to you 180+ bucket, you’ll make a diary note 90 days hence to move them from your long-distance horizon (180+ pipeline) to your 90 day pipeline.

This is a formal process. These are steps in your sales strategy you must do.

Add them to your database

Because they are in your pipeline means you need to ensure they’re also in your “Nurture” database.

Being nurtured means they will receive something from you that is non-sales-based (but still showcases your expertise) at least every month.

This will be sent to them via the mail and delivered to their postal address or via email.

By the way, unless you’re using an email client service (eg Mailchimp) you’ll have no way of knowing whether your emails are being opened or not. Also, purely FYI – because so very little is actually physically posted these days, there is a novelty factor of receiving something in the mail that has a bit of a ‘wow’ factor as well.

Yes – it costs more to post a letter (at least $1.00) but this has to be seen as a marketing investment. The ROI (return on investment) when you get the listing and sell their property, will far outweigh a few dollars in stamps, envelopes and printing.

At 90 days

Remember way back when you first appraised Mr & Mrs Vendors’ property you made a diary note 90 days out….?

That day has arrived!

At 90 days (when you turn your diary page and see your diary note) signals it’s time for you to up the ante in your nurturing activities.

At 90 days you call Mr & Ms Vendor. Remember to make reference to that personal-to-them conversation you had back when you first met them (their daughter’s wedding).

They will be impressed you remembered such a personal thing about a conversation that took place sooo long ago!

At 60 days

At the 60 day mark you up the ante (nicely) a little bit more.

The frequency for keeping in touch moves from 2-3 weeks to every 10 days or so.

You will know you’re at 60 days because you will be keeping track of where Mr & Ms Vendor are in your pipeline.

At 30 days

By this time you’re starting to get a feel for where they’re at.

Are they going to be true to their original word and list after their daughter’s wedding? Or has something else come up?

You may need to move them back into your 60 or 90 day pipeline. It doesn’t matter where they are in your pipeline so long as you’re keeping in touch with them and that they are in your pipeline.

At 7 days

This is where the rubber really starts hitting the metal!

In an ideal world you will have wowed them so much with your consistency and reliability (because you’ve kept in touch) you will have no competition when it comes to getting their signatures on your exclusive agency agreement.

Measuring your numbers

Now that you’ve got a procedure for nurturing prospects it’s important to measure the numbers.

If your business is like my clients’ businesses, those prospects in your 180+ pipeline will eventually become your listings provided you nurture.

When you know how many prospects you have in your 90 day pipeline you are more accurately able to predict future listings.

If, right now, you have zero prospects in your 90 day pipeline you’re going to be finding it tough in about 3 months’ time.

If your 90 day pipeline is currently sitting at zero the chances are high that in three months’ time you’ll be in another of those troughs, those droughts, we talked about earlier.

Action Steps:

Start implementing the tactics outlined above:

Make notes of the personal-to-them conversations you have with each prospect.

Send a thank you note with reference to the personal-to-them conversation. Include value-add information that showcases your expertise (not sales literature!).

Group Coaching – perfect for newbie realtors and those ready to move up in the ranks Group coaching is by application only. If you’re ready to move the needle on your real estate business through monthly group coaching (by webinar)...